Thread: Roobarb's patch

Tip


DO NOT TILE ANY OF THIS AREA MATE! !

Paint it, , the TP are hovering over the keypads.

Good luck with it mate, I'm sure a level headed guy like you will see it through

Originally Posted by nigelandjan

Tip


DO NOT TILE ANY OF THIS AREA MATE! !

Paint it, , the TP are hovering over the keypads.

Good luck with it mate, I'm sure a level headed guy like you will see it through

Yes, I read your thread and felt that sort of gut wrenching anticpatory fear of the inevitable that you get on a roller coaster. You can see what's coming but you are already firmly strapped in and there is therefore sod all you can do about it.

If they had a crack at yours they will have a field day over mine...

Stay tuned, I sense a bloodbath.

Originally Posted by nigelandjan

Paint it, , the TP are hovering over the keypads.

Originally Posted by Roobarb

If they had a crack at yours they will have a field day over mine...

Nah; don't worry

Most posters sense in which construction threads constructive criticism is welcomed

nice one RB

Originally Posted by helge

Originally Posted by nigelandjan

Paint it, , the TP are hovering over the keypads.

Originally Posted by Roobarb

If they had a crack at yours they will have a field day over mine...

Nah; don't worry

Most posters sense in which construction threads constructive criticism is welcomed

I have no idea how to respond to that Helge...

Is it a veiled criticism of my thread, or am I merely being overly sensitive in thinking so and it's actually a crack at Nigel? Either way I've probably just proven you right.

Perhaps it's it just a statement and the reason that nobody has been terribly critical of my build is that they think the all work so far is beyond reproach.

Not that I'm paranoid or anything...


... or am I?


I've learned a huge amount from reading the construction threads over the years. Whilst following the course of the projects makes for a fine tale, each build will have compromises, and it is the prioritising of what is important to the builder that keeps the dialogue different.

The questions and comments from other readers that crop up along the journey, asking why something was done a certain way or saying they would have done things differently, highlight these priorities and make the construction threads both interesting and educational.

The reason for me posting the thread on my build is not just to tell a story, although I'd hope that people will enjoy reading it, but its more that it provides one of the many vehicles in this forum to share knowledge amongst TD members. I've cocked this part of it up, and perhaps for others looking at embarking on a building thread it's a lesson I can pass on: by running a thread about four months behind what's actually happening on the ground it means is that any comments people make will have little effect on the outcome, and therefore some may feel it's difficult for their criticism to be seen as 'constructive'.

Yet oddly enough I would welcome the criticism as whilst my thread represents the compromises I have made for my circumstances, others may be in different circumstances but want to do something similar. For me it may be criticism, but for those reading this, and that's who this thread is for, others' comments could well be constructive.

I'm not on site, living in a shed, dealing with the builders and having to make decisions/compromises on the spot, then take the trouble to try and connect to the internet and upload progress each night so this project is not that personal to me. I'm sitting in a nicely air conditioned office 1000 miles away and dipping in with an update whenever I get bored. Other than proving that an idiot and his money are soon parted there's little else to my build that reflects on me personally. A part of me wishes I was in the thick of it, but then again its just one of the compromises that I chose to make.

Nigel has built what he set out to build, on time, on plan and on budget. Perhaps he wishes there are bits an pieces that were done differently and he has had to compromise on them along the way; but he rolled his sleeves up, got in there and in doing so achieved his primary objectives. In all honesty, I learned a bit about tiling from the points raised on his thread, but at the same time I fully understand his position that a page of discussion on it, much like the discussion on his thread about what a member had for breakfast, diluted the primary purpose of his story.

Ummmm, where am I? Ah, in the office. I'd better got on with something a little more constructive (in the other sense of the word) than this. Anyway, it's not a criticism of your post Helge, I guess if anything it's just an invitation for others to pipe up and ask questions or make comments on mine if they want to.

Yes, I know - it's opening the doors .

Originally Posted by Roobarb

The big one though, and it was far too late to do anything about it, was that the pillars on the outside of the kitchen/master bedroom extension seemed to be about 15 cms off centre. The builder was presumably trying to keep the higher and lower roof ridges in line, so started the walls centrally on the main building but then had to angle them off to meet the pillars. What this meant was that we seemed to be ending up with a distinctly rhomboid-shaped kitchen.

It was rather difficult to get a photo of it...

I've just found a photo that may better illustrate this:



Spent ages looking for that pic this morning...

It was about at this time that the builder announced that we may have a bit of a problem on the floorboard front and suggested that we use Shera floor planks for the top floor bit (up in the eaves).

Off we went to Global House to have a look and cost it up. The top floor was about 70 sq metres. I can't remember the number of Shera planks it would have used but it seemed to be coming out to be about 60,000 Baht or so.

We then went to have a look at doing a sort of ply and laminate floor up there, but that was coming out to be a bit more.

We'd bought a nine post house with 55 sq.m of floorboards for 60K just a few months earlier. We were bound to need some more wood anyway and besides which I was keen to keep all the floorboards as wood rather than cop out on the last bit.

We needed another house.

And so FIL was sent off on a mission to find us another house.

To recap, so far our house had consumed the wood from a small 9 post barn as well as both a 12 post and a 9 post house. And still we needed more.

I was not massively optimistic we would find anything as there is another house nearby that had recently been built and had also swallowed up four wooden houses in the process. I suspected that we were either going to find that the novelty of having some folding readies but no roof over your head would be wearing a bit thin, or at the very least we would be subject to the laws of supply and demand.

But no!

Two days later and this beauty was unearthed:







... and the pièce de résistance:

Basically, you've destroyed the homes of a fair sized community to build a rarely used holiday home! Are you in the banking trade...

A few of these...




... followed by 60 of these...




... and the place was ours

Originally Posted by Bettyboo

Basically, you've destroyed the homes of a fair sized community to build a rarely used holiday home! Are you in the banking trade...

It's a fair question Betty.

I'm not in the banking trade but I do sleep well at night so perhaps my vocation was missed...

I'm enjoying t.his construction thread roobarb your an interesting bloke I reckon. Plenty of smart Indians all competing for a slice of the pie in one of the most populous country's in the world, you must be at the top of your game. Is the build going to be the retirement gaff ?The builds looking great, merry Xmas to you

Wow did you really buy that for only 60k? Can you ask your FIL to find me a few of these beauties because every time I ask my wife she yells "who wants to sell his house???!"

Originally Posted by Koetjeka

Wow did you really buy that for only 60k? Can you ask your FIL to find me a few of these beauties because every time I ask my wife she yells "who wants to sell his house???!"

Yup, I'm amazed but where we are (middle of nowhere north of Chaiyaphum) there are still a few of these sort of houses around. Some of the prices have got silly though, we saw a similar one that they wanted 200K for, then one with corrugated walls that was looking for 100K, and another that had been almost entirely eaten by termites for 100K.

Somehow the FIL seems to winkle them out. Beer and a winning smile seem to do it. I hope to god it's not simply someone's holiday house and he and a few mates have dismantled it and pocketed the cash whilst the owners were away. Possible I suppose....?

I hope to god it's not simply someone's holiday house and he and a few mates have dismantled it and pocketed the cash whilst the owners were away. Possible I suppose....?

I actually read something like this a while ago, a foreigner bought a nice teak wood holiday house and someone actually stole his house (supposedly moved by truck) while he was in the USA for holiday.

Originally Posted by Bettyboo

We sold a wooden house about 5 years ago, about that size, 30,000 baht. It was the missus' mother's old house and in disrepair, likely to go to ruin and be eaten by termites; we don't use that bit of land anyways, we just leave it hoping it will go up in value...

I don't think we're paying rock bottom prices for these. From memory Wimpy paid 45k for the one that he used to make his place. I guess a lot depends on the area. 60K seems the going rate around us for those that want to sell.

Some of the ones I mentioned earlier were valuing their wooden houses on what it would cost to build a concrete house. Logical I suppose, but ultimately a bit unrealistic.

^folks do base value on different things; cost of material, replacement value, etc, so I see where you're coming from Mr 3 Million...

Originally Posted by Roobarb

I guess a lot depends on the area.

I reckon that's right. Nakhon Nayok, where we have a few bits of land and are building the house, even though it's close to Bkk, close to big roads, doesn't flood, etc, seems very cheap. Maybe 100,000 per rai for decent land. I've heard of some very big prices for really shitty land in the middle of nowhere in Issan... I suppose wooden houses and the such are the same. We tend to go with the local low prices on everything, both buying and selling. The dad has lived in the village all his life, so prices aren't inflated...

Originally Posted by Koetjeka

I hope to god it's not simply someone's holiday house and he and a few mates have dismantled it and pocketed the cash whilst the owners were away. Possible I suppose....?

I actually read something like this a while ago, a foreigner bought a nice teak wood holiday house and someone actually stole his house (supposedly moved by truck) while he was in the USA for holiday.

Eek, you're worrying me now Koetjeka...

My place of course is being built to house my large family of Doberman Pinschers and Rottweilers. I like Germanic sounding dogs. I did have Daschunds too at one point, but I think the other dogs may have eaten them.

Did I mention on this thread that the lake was also shark-infested?

Betty also offered to lend me his two particularly savage cats.

I'm a tad concerned that this city boy might struggle when we move to the jungle...

Originally Posted by Roobarb

Originally Posted by Koetjeka

I hope to god it's not simply someone's holiday house and he and a few mates have dismantled it and pocketed the cash whilst the owners were away. Possible I suppose....?

I actually read something like this a while ago, a foreigner bought a nice teak wood holiday house and someone actually stole his house (supposedly moved by truck) while he was in the USA for holiday.

Eek, you're worrying me now Koetjeka...

My place of course is being built to house my large family of Doberman Pinschers and Rottweilers. I like Germanic sounding dogs. I did have Daschunds too at one point, but I think the other dogs may have eaten them.

Did I mention on this thread that the lake was also shark-infested?

Betty also offered to lend me his two particularly savage cats.

No need to worry, your house is impractical to deconstruct. That guy's house was all "prefab" from the factory, shipped to his land and constructed in a few days time.

Originally Posted by Bettyboo

I'm a tad concerned that this city boy might struggle when we move to the jungle...

Aha. Perfect. Thanks Betty. That'll definitely scare 'em off.